Businesses urged to take advantage of the UK's top physics department

Businesses have the opportunity to tap into the resources of the UK's top physics department.

Lancaster University's Physics Department is ranked as the best in the country for research and companies and organisations are invited to use its undergraduate talent to boost their research and development at little cost.

Offering fresh insight into problems, the third year undergraduates work in small teams overseen by academics to provide a solution for the organisation.

Dr Mark Rushforth, Head of Business Partnerships and Enterprise for Physical Sciences at Lancaster University, said: "This is a great opportunity for businesses and organisations of all sizes to have a team of skilled and dynamic undergraduates to work on a relevant problem with the business.

"As well as benefitting from having a team work on resolving a real-world issue, there is an opportunity to talent-spot students from within the country's top physics department and to create or build on relationships with the university."

Interested businesses do not have to pay for the time of the students or academics working on the projects, although they may need to provide specialised equipment or materials that are specific to their problem.

The students benefit from opportunities to do real-world research and a greater understanding of the needs of industry, as well as a chance to develop other important skills such as team-working and project-management.

Previous companies that have benefitted from students working on a business problem include Tyco Fire Protection Products, which designs and manufactures smoke alarms.

Stephen Penney, Principle Engineer at Tyco Fire Protection Products said: "While we were hopeful the students would find something to challenge them, we were pleasantly surprised at the calibre of their work.

"They showed initiative in both structuring their work efficiently and selecting aspects of the study to ensure their work complemented our own, resulting in some useful research."

Businesses and organisations who would like to register their interest or to find out more should contact Dr Manus Hayne from Lancaster University's Department of Physics by emailing m.hayne@lancaster.ac.uk or calling 01524 593279.

More information about Lancaster University's Department of Physics is available by visiting

Dr Jerry Avis joined the Faculty on 2nd March 2015 as Deputy Director for Business Partnerships and Enterprise. He has a PhD in Microbial Chemistry from the University Of Manchester and has worked in the higher education and private sectors in both commercial and operational roles.

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